Ch.569Planetary Exploration is One of the Crowning Jewels of Science Fiction. (2)

Three days later.

—————————————–

<General Announcement>

<<<‘Planetary Exploration’ Event Begins!>>>

<Notice to all Commanders!>

<As of this moment, ‘Subspace Rifts’ will appear in front of each Commander’s base!>

<The environment of the planets located within these rifts is completely random, and most other elements will also proceed randomly.>

<Important Note>

<During the event period, PVP will be automatically prohibited.>

<The event will end 7 days after 80% of Commanders have cleared the event.>

—————————————–

“Hmm.”

“The event has finally started.”

Right after the notification message announcing the start of the event appeared before my eyes.

Blue-tinged lightning the size of the North American continent began flashing wildly in all directions in the empty space in front of our base.

Eventually, a massive rift in space opened up, glittering with all sorts of colors—red, blue, yellow, green, purple—a rainbow of hues…

“Alright, Jessica? Deploy the fleet we prepared.”

“Yes, Commander.”

I immediately tried to dispatch the fleet I had on standby to begin exploring the event map.

But as soon as I made this move, I encountered an unexpected problem…

-“Approaching the spatial rift soon, will enter once preparations are complete.”

“Hmm?”

Just as the prepared fleet was about to bubble toward the rift.

—————————————–

<Event>

<‘Planetary Exploration’ Event Urgent Warning!>

<Content>

<The base’s communication system does not reach inside the subspace provided in this event.>

<Consequently, if you proceed as is, command of forces deployed to the subspace will automatically be cut off.>

<Do you wish to proceed anyway?>

<Option 1. Ugh, too bothersome, I’ll just proceed anyway. (Event continues, significantly increased chance of negative random events)>

<Option 2. Well, if that’s the case, I guess I’ll have to go out for a little stroll myself. (Event continues)>

—————————————–

“Oh no, Jessica? Stop the fleet.”

“Yes, all ships approaching the rift, halt.”

Seeing the additional event options that popped up, I had no choice but to order the fleet I was about to send in to stop.

And since this event message couldn’t have appeared only to me, I immediately opened the gallery to check… and sure enough.

—————————————–

Title: Game devs, you bastards, what the hell is this?

Author: Anonymous

Content: [EventMessageScreenshot.jpg]

Why do I have to leave my comfortable command center and personally run around in the field?

Are you telling us to go get shot by stray bullets?

Comments:

-[LOLOLOLOL]

-[Why can’t we just click buttons from the safety of the base command center? LOL]

-[The mention of direct field command has all the keyboard warriors suddenly getting real!]

—————————————–

Most users were trembling with rage and cursing.

But realistically speaking, there didn’t seem to be any other option…

—————————————–

<Sand Clock Empire Official Chat Room>

<Notice: Event ON>

-[Ugh, damn it]

-[I don’t really want to go in person]

-[We can’t die anyway, so what’s the big deal?]

-[Just because we can’t die doesn’t mean we don’t feel pain, you know]

-[Honestly, it’s just annoying to have to go, right?]

-[For real, agreed]

—————————————–

Since there wasn’t any clever way around it.

The users, including myself, could only whine as we reluctantly boarded the invasion fleet and departed.

==========

And after going through all that, we finally arrived at the planet inside the subspace.

“Come to think of it, we don’t necessarily need to use assault pods to land from the beginning, right?”

“Commander, you’re acting like someone whining right before a bungee jump…”

“No, think about it. Assault pods are single-use, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“Then instead of using them all at the start, shouldn’t we save some for later in case problems arise?”

“Ah… you mean like a strategic reserve?”

After discussing it like this and abandoning the no-nonsense, macho landing procedure of assault pods.

The moment we arrived on the planet’s surface, safely and comfortably delivered by a destroyer that landed directly…

-WHOOOOOSH!

-WHEEEEEE!

“Ugh, it’s freezing.”

“It’s incredibly cold. I’ll have them build a command post right away.”

As soon as the destroyer’s hatch opened, an overwhelming wave of cold hit us, and I instinctively hunched my shoulders and buried my face in the coat I was wearing.

‘Wow, insane weather. If it weren’t for the system’s protection for being a user, I’d already have frostbite.’

And it seemed like all the Superhumans with relatively high exposure were feeling this cold too.

With the exception of Pashtra, who handles energy on her own and is essentially unaffected by temperature changes.

The rest of the Superhumans, due to their design characteristics, were huddling together around Berial and Tiamat, who had uniforms or long “cloaks,” using those cloaks as blankets to wrap around themselves.

And thanks to the assault troops and work drones that came out of the destroyer with us, who managed to work despite being half-frozen from the cold, a completely sealed command center was finally constructed.

Our Superhumans rushed in as soon as I entered, all at once, eagerly enjoying the warmth inside the command center.

And having somehow managed to set foot on the planet like this.

“Ah, Commander? The destroyer is now returning to orbit.”

“Oh, is it?”

About three hours after the command center was newly constructed.

Sipping the hot chocolate Jessica brought, I decided to check the gallery to see what other users were up to before we really got started.

And looking at the gallery like that, I realized that the natural environments of the planets really were different for each user, which gave me a very strange feeling.

In my case, as soon as we landed on the planet, we found ourselves on a crazy ice planet with average daytime temperatures in the negative tens of degrees.

But the planets where other users had landed were equally deadly worlds.

Just to give some examples…

—————————————–

Title: Why the hell is this planet such a mess?

Author: Anonymous

Content: [A view from inside the command center looking outside, showing a “scorching desert” with no water in sight, stretching to the horizon.jpg]

Nothing but sand everywhere.

What the hell are we supposed to find here?

Comments:

-[You should look for spice]

-[Become the king of seasoning]

-[Are there any sand-eating worm swarms on the planet?]

—————————————–

The complete opposite of this freezing ice planet where I am—a planet with nothing but a desert that looks hot enough to crisp you up.

—————————————–

Title: Giant mosquito swarm incoming

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Enormous mosquitoes stuck all over the command center windows, with Superhumans and assault troops inside glaring outside with murderous intent.jpg]

Save me, damn it

So many bugs, please

Comments:

-[Mosquitoes, fuck;]

-[First time seeing mosquitoes in years]

-[Just orbital bombardment them LOL. The command center is super sturdy, it can handle a fireworks party unless hit directly by the main cannon]

-˪[I did that but they came swarming from somewhere else. If it weren’t for those things, you’d see everything around the command center reduced to ashes](Author)

-˪[Holy shit]

—————————————–

Or someone else showing a steaming jungle style planet.

Beyond that, someone else ended up on a planet filled with nothing but ruined cities.